
Author . 



Title 



Imprint. 






"'bulletin of the WISCONSIN STAT 

!' BOARD OF INDUSTRi/xi rnnrATin 

NO, 6 



Manual Artj 



PUBLIC SCHOOL MANUAL ARTS AN AGENGV 
FOR VOCATIONAL i-DUCATiON 



F. D. CRAWSHAW 



Professor of Mantial /Xrts. Tlie UniVP.rsitv of Wisr.onsi> 



MADISON 



■•<W|;r«^r 



BULLETIN OF THE WISCONSIN STATE 
BOARD OF INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION 

NO. 6 

Manual Arts 



PUBLIC SCHOOL MANUAL ARTS AN AGENCY 
FOR VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 



BY 



F. D. CRAWSHAW 
Professor of Manual Arts, The University of Wisconsin 



MADISON 

Published by the Board 

1912 






v^V 



Wisconsin State Board of Industrial 
Education 



H. E. Miles, President 
Racine 

Louis E. Rebek. Secretary 
Madison 

C. P. Gary, Madison 

Donna Dines, Milwaukee 

A. S. LiNDEMANX, Milwaukee 

Meet Malone, Oshkosh 

William M. Miller, Eau Claire 

F. E. Turneauke, Madison 

E. E. Winch, Marshfield 



D. OF D. 
APR I 25 1913 



Manual Arts 



Public School Manual Arts an Agency for Vocational 
Education"^" 



Some experiments which have been made in recent years to pro- 
vide for better equi])ped industrial workers have seemed to indi- 
cate that little account has been taken of manual training in the 
public schools — this training to be so organized as to accomplish 
in part at least the desired results. 

Unquestionably the trade school, the special industrial school, 
and the continuation school are each and all a means to the de- 
sired end. It is a question, however, whether our present public 
.school organization may not do much that it is not now doing to 
aid in tlie industrial education movement. 

Admitting, if we can, that the schools are not fulfilling their 
obligation to society in this respect, and that manual training- 
teachers are shareholders with their brother teachers concerned in 
more purely academic subjects in helping to solve the problem of 
industrial education, what can they do to change their methods? 

The Preser^t. Facilities 

Already we have in public school manual arts departments from 
four to eight shops equipped for wood and metal work. We have 
drawing rooms to provide for three kinds of mechanical drawing 
and as many kinds of freehand drawing. We have science labo- 
ratories for practically all the sciences that are taught. If now 
we should provide an equipment for some of the special industries 
•of the community, such for example as pottei'y, printing, and 

*Paper read before the Wisconsin Association of City Superintendents 
and Supervising Principals at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Marcli 29, 1912, and 
printed by the State Board of Industrial Education at the request of the 
Association. 



— 4 — 

weaving, and modify' the courses in the shops already provided, 
by giving the courses of study conducted in them a strong indus- 
trial tendency, we might be able to meet any reasonable demands- 
thus far made for industrial education. Tlie transformation, then, 
of the present public high school, would mean a comparatively 
small expenditure of money. The maintenance of such a school 
would be slightly greater than that of the large high schools at 
present e«iuipped for a variety of work. The difference in this- 
particular, however, would not be great. It really is not a ques- 
tion of first expense or of the expense of maintenance: it is a ques- 
tion of purpose. We can do the thing that we set oat to do if we 
are all agreed upon a particular plan. 

It is not necessary for us at this time to consider definitely the 
Jcind of manual arts work to be done in the reorganized schools. 
Let us hope, however, that it may be such as to retain all of the 
valuable elements in our present day manual training work, and 
to embody also such fundamental principles of industries as to 
make it possible for a boy, when leaving school either before 
graduation or at the time of graduation from the grade school oi" 
high school, to "make good." There are many things of actual 
industrial value which manual training teachers might agree upoii 
as satisfactory to teach even in the upper grades if they viewed 
their subject from the standpoint of our present day ideals, both 
educational and industrial. 

The Results to Expect from Proper Adjustment of 
Present Courses 

It is believed, therefore, that some of tlie results of a modified 
course, such as the one just suggested, would be these: — 

First, to control under a single management the whole of a boy's 
education !n .■^r/iooL 

Second, to educate for the industries rather than to frKt'jt for 
them. 

Third, to enrich the industries by sending into tiiem young 
men who have liad some ■•special' preparation for a pdrtich'/ar occu- 
pation. 

Fourth, to emphasize skill, technicpie, and workmanship by the 
employment of industrial standards. 

Fifth, to prepare young people for the actual work of life while 
they are being given all of the refining and uplifting influences 
which the non-vocational studies provide. 



— 5 — 

Sixth, to develop a system which is not at all times preparing 
for sometliing- far ahead. At whatever point the boy might leave 
school he would be i^repared to do what is one of the hardest 
things for any of xis to do; namely, to adjust himself to present 
conditions. Sucli an adjustment may be made when he appreci- 
ates the relation between the means and the ends in life; and it is 
with reference to this relation that the course of studj^ in our new 
schools must be designed. 

Regarding the limitations for industrial education, if the plan 
outlined is followed, three may be presented. 

(1) The boy's age. We cannot expect a boy of fourteen or fif- 
teen to do a man's full work no matter what his preparation for a 
man's work may be. The schools can never turn him out at the 
end of a common school period as an A No. 1 industrial workman, 

(2) His natural rights. America is a democracy; and while it 
may be true that the boys of to-day, may fifty years from now 
be doing much the same thing that their fathers are at present 
doing, still we cannot say this of any particular one of them. We 
owe every normal individual a chance to reach one goal — that 
which the best equipped individual in the community may one day 
reacli. He and not we, by the natural law of selection and rejec- 
tion, must find his place. Our partis to provide a means whereby 
each individual may find the work for Avhich he is best fitted, and 
prepare to do that work with the greatest degree of success. 

(3) His natural abilities. Believe what we may regarding our 
being born into this world as equals, we know that our present 
and future environment limit our possibilities. No matter what 
form of industrial education is attempted, may it be true that no 
one is attracted to it and held by it who would lead a happier and 
a more useful life if he followed some other course! 

The Ends to be Sought 

What I wish you to consider, then, is industrial education — not 
industrial training; the parallel course of study which means vo- 
cational and non-vocational opportunities for all; the unified sys- 
tem which economizes time, space, and money for the boy and for 
the community of which he is a part; the universal education 
which means an industrial efiiciency as well as a social efficiency, 
which gives hope to every individual for something better, but 
which for every station in life gives the satisfaction that can come 
only when one feels that he possesses a reserve power which is the 



— 6 — 

result of broadening' rather than uarrowino: influences. My con- 
tention is that it is the public school — the school which offers 
the maximum of opportunities for all — which can best and most 
effectively bring these returns. 

A Strong Vocational Bearing Necessary 

Enough has been said thus far to suggest two things: — • 

1st. That the manual arts in all the grades of school work 
may, and probably should, keep in touch with vocational and es- 
pecially industrial activit'es. 

2nd. That in all grades above those ordinarily called elemen- 
tary the manual arts must have, if they are to serve their full pur- 
pose, a strong vocational bearing. 

In any form of educational work, even in that which is designed 
for those who did not receive the advantages of an early school 
training, it is still considered good practice to lay a general 
foundation for future work by considering fundamental princii)les. 
In the teaching of tlie manual arts we would naturally consider 
the elementary grades the place in the school process where ma- 
terial should be handled with regard to a general development rather 
than as a means to some specific end. It is in these grades, then, 
that the manual arts should be taught less as a subject and more 
as a process, or as a moans to a general educational end. Manual 
training, then, is a term which can best be used when speaking of 
the manual arts as taught in the elementary' school period. 

It is assumed that the modern school methods for this period 
do not consider any one of the many school subjects in a formal 
manner. Number work, for example, in the first two or three 
grades, is no longer tauglit in the abstract. Indeed it is not 
taught as concrete number work even. Facts concerning numbers 
are learned by tln:; first and second grade children by means of asso- 
ciation. This example suggests that all educational material in 
these grades is used in the bulk i-ather than in parts. The little 
child absorbs, as it were, a certain amount of information con- 
cerning many things which later on in its progress he knows as 
arithmetic, language, geography, history, or any one of the sub- 
divisions into which educational material is divided. 

Acting upon the same general plan in teaching construction 
work (a name given to the manual arts in the lower grades) we 
would use materials in the early grade hand work, whenever they 
might serve the purpose of broadening the educational horizon of 
the child better tlian any other available means. 



— 7 — 

What then is manual training according to such standards? 
First and foremost, it is a course in handwork dealing with ele- 
mentary industrial processes which have a place in present indus- 
trial life, have had a place in the past, and probably will have in 
the future. Such a course, from the standpoint of educational 
theory, will be recognized as serviceable and practical for actual 
school room conditions, because it will allow and demand a corre- 
lation with geography, history, language, reading, and arithmetic. 
It will be practical from the standjDoint of the community, be- 
cause it will teach the child the elements of the occupations fol- 
lowed by members of the community. 

The Industrial Emphasis in the Elementary Grades 

Just one specific illustration now to show how the early grade 
manual training may serve as a preliminary step in industrial ed- 
ucation. 

The supervisor selects a material to be ixsed in a certain grade 
because it is a suitable one in the commiinity in which the school 
is placed, and because experience has shown that it maj^ be used 
successfully by children of the age found in that grade. 

He plans his course so far as the tool exercises or methods of 
manipulation are concerned, but he does not decide upon the par- 
ticular thing to be made by each pupil. He leaves that to the 
good judgement of the class teacher and the desires of the individ- 
ual pupils. The classes meet and begin work with the under- 
standing that certain things must be learned before they can do 
well what they wish to do, and with the further understanding that 
when the proper time comes they will be permitted to work out 
their individual plans. Each pupil learns to handle both material 
and tools in exercises which ma.y or may not have a value in them- 
selves when completed. While this is being done, the language, 
geography, history, and arithmetic are incidentally used to show 
the child what can be done in his manual work. "When this el- 
ementary work is completed, each child uses his new knowledge 
and new power in developing his own individual project under the 
supervision of his teacher. Now what is the result of this kind of 
manual training? Certainly this: Good habits of thought and 
action are formed. Proper methods of working with tools are 
learned. An interest in the thing being done is kept, and results 
which are worthy of the effort put forth are secured. Self-reli- 
ance and individuality are developed. The pupil becomes both a 



rational tliinker and a careful doer. By such results, practical and 
educational manual trainino- may be tested upon the basis of its 
having an industrial signiticance. 

While it is true that the emphasis upon the manual arts is at 
the present time in the direction of the industrial, it is quite as 
true that the older emphasis, viz., that of its educational and cul- 
tural value, should continue to be prominent. There must be a time 
when the general is considered rather than, the special — when a 
superstructure must be laid for future building. Such a time in 
the teaching of the manual arts is found in the first three or four 
years of the child's school life. Here is the place, then, for 
breadth rather than narrowness. 

We are becoming more and more convinced because of the in- 
dustrial temper of our people and l:»ecause of the economic neces- 
sities which force children out of school as soon as the state will 
permit them to go, that the vocational emphasis in school work 
must begin early enough to prepare those who are thus affected 
for such a contingency. Much as we may wish to hold children 
in school until they are physically, mentally, and morally capable 
of battling with life's problems, we must recognize, by the over- 
whelming evidence furnished by the number of children who leave 
school before they reach the higli school, that we cannot do this 
for all. The ever increasing large number who drop out of school 
during the period between fourteen and sixteen years of age seems 
to establish the fact that if the school is to help them in any way 
directly to perform the constructive duties of life it must in the 
grammar grades do a pre-vocational work and, if possible, create 
an industrial intelligence. 

Vocational Guidance 

The work of helping a pupil to realize his individual ability and 
responsibility is that part of the teacher's work for which he is not 
specifically paid but for which he is none the less responsible. It 
is the part which will go far toward solving many of the perplex- 
ing problems surrounding the school room and particularly those 
which may be classed under the head of "Vocational Guidance" 
about which Mr. Meyer Bloomfield has so effectively written in 
his little book, '"Tlie Vocational Guidance of Youth." 

Many of the things which may be called traditional in the 
manual arts work should be done during this second period — the 
grammar grade period — in one's school life. We must not con- 



— 9 — 

elude because our attention has been drawn so forcibly to the need 
for vocational education in this period that it is onlj' tiiis form of 
education that is needed. Neither should we conclude that all the 
manual arts in grades five to eight inclusive should be given a de- 
cided vocational turn for all pupils. We shall continue to have 
in the school tliose, even though they are in the minority, who are 
destined to continue in the school system through the high school 
and into or tlirough the university. As Dr. MUnsterberg has told 
us, it is from this class that we may expect to secure the future 
men of remarkable abilitj'^ in the fields of science and letters. For 
them, then, much attention should be given to their prospective 
work as students along the professional lines. The manual arts 
work for such should continue to be founded primarily upon the 
manual training process leading toward cultural and generally edu- 
cational ends. Either the formal manual training of the past will 
suffice for them, or else the newer vocational manual arts must 
■contain elements which will make it developmental for one class as 
well as another. If these good qualities may be possessed by the 
vocational manual arts tliey may well replace the former type 
which now so often are classed as dilettante. 

Then, too, the administration of the manual arts work in the 
grammar grades will be simple; for both the children who will 
continue in school work and those who will soon leave school may 
profit by such manual arts. The former will receive the benefit 
which comes from the more versatile use of all of one's faculties, 
as will also the latter class, to be sure; but these will also secure 
the special training which will prepare them for a particular vo- 
cation, perhaps an industry. The expression, "prepare them," is 
used because as Dr. L. D. Harvey of Stout Institute, has said. 

The schools do not give complete preparation for the work of 
life. Neither can they give complete preparation for the making 
■of a living; but they should give that which may be regarded as a 
part of the necessary preparation for earning a living, which can 
be given through systematic instruction in the schools better than 
■elsewhere. Although this preparation may be inadequate, it 
should be a beginning, at least, of the complete preparation de- 
sired." 

Two Alternatives in the Grammar Grades 

There are two alternatives in the grammar grades: first, to pro- 
vide two kinds of manual arts work for the pupils, and, second: to 
provide one — the vocational form — and administer it so that it may 



]0 



be equally beneficial to all, but in different ways. The latter is the 
more acceptable, both from an economic and an educational point 
of view. 

To suggest now tlie possible means of providing specifically for 
the class of children who in all probability will not enter high 
school, and who when they leave the grammar grades, if cared for 
in school as they have been in the past, will enter the nonpro- 
ductive or so-called "blind alley" occupations, the following ex- 
amples are given; 

1. In the large citj^ where there may be in any one section a 
sufficient number whose future occupation can be determined with 
some considerable degree of certainty — such determination being 
made by conferences between parent, teacher, and child — there 
may be established a vocational school. In Indianapolis, for ex- 
ample, there are several schools in which the manual arts work is 
typical of some particular community activity which furnishes a 
livelihood for the adult population. Such occupations in these 
schools are tinsmithing, sign painting, shoe repairing, and 
clothes cleaning and pressing. Together with this manual work 
there is a line of regular school work carried on, but always con- 
ducted in such a manner that if at any time a pupil chooses to 
continue in school even on into the high school he may do so with 
little or no loss of time. 

It would not be possible always, especially in the city of moder- 
ate size, to establish special schools, but in such communities there 
could be operated within a regular school a department which 
would provide for the vocational manual arts work. In the regular 
academic work also there could be a division or a class M^hose, work 
would be of the applied kind particularly designed to fit individu- 
als for a vocational use of their book knowledge in their occupa- 
tion. In a sense, such a division or class would be conducted 
somewhat the same as the "ungraded" classes are in many cities at 
the present time. If a special instructor could not be provided for 
such a group, at least some regular instructor could be found whose 
sympathies and understanding of the needs of the group would en- 
able him soon to carry on the Avork of the group in a satisfactory 
mannei". This would be true for the manual arts work and for the 
other school work as well. Of course vmder tins plan, as in the 
first one mentioned, the academic work done should permit an in- 
dividual to proceed into high school work as though he had fol- 
lowed the course of more complete preparation for such advance- 



— 11 



nient. In the small town it would not be possible always to se- 
cure a sufficient number of pupils to form a vocational department,, 
but always, with the proper incentive, some special attention could 
be given to those whose demands meant a special rather than a gen- 
eral training. A good example of what may be done imder these 
circumstances is given in the work which is being carried on in 
Neenah, Wisconsin, under the supervision of Mr. Newton Van 
Palsem of the manual arts <lepartment, and Superintendent E. M. 
Beman. Here boys are permitted upon a competition basis in 
their regular school work to spend a half day or more in the man- 
ual arts department. Thus it is possible for most if not all boys 
of normal ability to undertake a work along any one of several 
lines which approaches closely to actual industrial or trade condi- 
tions. 

The Intermediate Grade Vocational Needs 

Something must be done for those boys and girls in the sixth,, 
seventh, and eighth grades who cannot, or probably will not, con- 
tinue long in school, and who, therefore, must go to work, be- 
cause of circumstances resulting from conditions — financial, phys- 
ical, mental, or moral — due either to heredity or envii'onment. 
This something is to teach them the elements of business or trades. 
The chances are that this class of children will labor in their home 
community; therefore, the activity of the community should be 
their activity. This community activity must be brought into 
the school or else those governing this activity must cooper- 
ate with the school by permitting children to work in the com- 
munity shops, factories, or business houses for part time. This 
idea is already being worked out in many places. Who can say 
that it cannot be carried lower down in the school process? 
Would it not be better to hold boys to practical arithmetic, lan- 
guage, geography, and history work for a half day, and know 
that they were spending the other half in work which they will in 
all probability follow for the remainder of their lives, than to lose 
them from the school influence entirely, and know that they were 
becoming lifelong automatons in a factory system? 

Again I quote from Dr. L. D. Harvey: "in oider to secure the 
facilities for industrial education which existing conditions seem 
to demand, the work in the elementary and secondary schools must 
be modified through an extension of the manual work now being 
carried on in a large number of schools, and yet in the aggre- 



— 12 — 

-gate, which reaches in any effective waj', comparatively few. If, 
throng-h these schools there is to be a direct contribution to the 
field of industrial education, the work in manual training* must be 
organized with that end in view; not with the distinct purpose of 
teachino- trades or of giving a limited line of training in a single 
process to the point where a high degree of skill is developed. 
This is not necessary, indeed, in order to make the elementary 
schools a very important factor in industrial education. 

The largest opportunity for reaching the greatest number who 
need training for skill in workmanship and for making progress 
in the development of that skill, lies in the modification of the 
courses of stud^^ in the elementary and secondary schools, by mak- 
ing provision for a much more extended line of manual training 
work than is now offered, open to all, running from the kinder- 
garten through the high school. We have in existence the organ- 
ization for carrying on this work. It may be so given as to bear 
a direct and helpful relation to the other woi'k of the schools, re- 
euforcing and strengthening that work." 

Suggested Possibilities for Grammar Grade Adjustment 

Summing up the points I have attempted to make regarding 
grammar grade manual arts, let me suggest these for your careful 
consideration:— 

1. Define for yourself and for your constituency what manual 
-training should be and do. 

2. Consider carefully its possibilities for preparing pupils for 
industrial work without narrowing their outlook on life or short- 
ening their preparation for it. 

3. Regard manual training as a means of expression which shall 
iiave, as a motor development subject in the curriculum, both cul- 
tural and utilitarian value. 

4. Select material for work which is easily available and which 
has a local significance, or which is of general use in tlie trades. 

5. Use material in a well developed 8e(iuential plan of work 
running through consecutive grades. Make the projects progres- 
sive and of practical value for each grade, taxing to some extent 
the ability of the average student in the class. 

6. Ragard the manual arts department a-t a legitimate place 
for industrial education, and for those who will go into industrial 
work before entering the high school; ])rovide special facilities by 

-extending the present equipment rather than providing a new one in 
a new school. 



13 — 



The Problem of the High School 

In the liigli school as in the g-i-animav grades there are found the 
■children who are seeking- information for immediate economic 
•ends and those also who aspire to become college and university 
students. The problem, then, of educating- in the public high 
school those who may be found there is not much different in its 
inherent elements from the similar problem for the grades just 
■discussed. 

In the methods to be followed and in the ends to be sought, the 
problem is somewhat different. To begin with, we must give con- 
sideration to two important facts, viz: 

First: The great majority of those who complete a high school 
■course of study immediately thereafter enter upon the work of 
some wage earning position. 

Second: Few if an^^ of those who enter high scliool know at 
the time of entrance what their future work is to be. 

The high school course of stud3'' must be constructed upon such 
broad lin^s that it will serve as a means of determining for each 
boy and girl what he or she can best afford to do as a life work. 
It must also be designed to place at the command of those, who are 
■directing the great commercial and industrial interests of the 
world, individuals who are prepared for immediate active service 
in some life occupation. What, then, is the natural conclusion to 
be reached regarding the education of the high school boy and 
girl? It would seem there can be but one answer, viz: give each 
individual the broadest possible education in the high school to fit 
him for the largest possible service in the community in which he 
is to live. To do this we must work on the theory that few if any 
high school boys, in at least the early high school period, are cap- 
able of determining what their calling in life will be. Assuming 
this to be true, the logical thing to do in outlining high school 
courses of study is to place in every course as manj^ of the liberal 
or nonvocational studies as possible, together with those which 
may be classed as vocational. This plan operates to afford for 
«ach individual student the means of selecting, before he reaches 
his senior high school year, his chosen 2^''(>.fcssio)i or vocation. 

If there is any jyarticular place in the school process where 
pupils should be able to discover themselves, it is in the high 
school. As a rule, an individual is old enough upon leaving the 
high school to know what his real desire is concerning a future 
occupation. The high school work, therefore, should be so general 



— 14 — 

in its scope and yet so definite in its character as regards any par- 
ticular course, that the average boy finds himself before he finishes 
his junior high school year, if possible. His senior high school 
year should be used particularly to fit him either for active life 
work or college work. 

Now it is ray purpose to give an opinion upon the work of high 
school manual arts to make it more completely serve as a prepara- 
tion for tlie industries. 

Specialization in the High School 

Possibly we may be led to believe three things: 

First: The manual arts work of the first two years of high 
school should be both cultural and industrial in character and rep- 
resent as many fundamental mechanical activities as possible. It 
should be taken by all students. For those who must leave early 
to go to Avork there must be the opportunity for specialization. 

Second: The manual arts of the last two years, or at least the 
last year, of high school should be specifically industrial in char- 
acter and should be designed to serve particularly the needs of 
those who will enter vocational service on leaving the high school. 

Third: For those students who will enter college the manual 
arts work of the last two years of high school is not important. 
Other subjects in the high school curriculum are more valuable as 
a preparation for college work. 

We will consider specifically, now, the things which the high 
school may do to provide for the industries and discover, if possi- 
ble, if our three findings just enumerated ai'e sound. 

Let us organize our high schools on much the same basis as 
they are at present organized except that instead of considering 
the four years as a preparation for some further Avork we make 
the ]>reparatoi"y period run through the first two or three years 
only. During these years in the manual training and drawing 
work we will give the several subjects as broad an educational 
value as possible but at the same time have them so thoroughly 
industrialized that they will represent prectxe/i/ the existing indus- 
trial conditions. By so doing, pupils Avill become acquainted with 
actual conditions and appreciate in a measure what their future 
work will be, should they select as their chosen field any one rep- 
resented by the school courses. 

Now, in the fourth year, we will in a sense segregate those who 
will continue school work in colleges from those who will im- 



— 15 — 

mediately enter the industries upon their completion of the high 
school course. 

To this section in the senior year we will give a special course 
in the vocation to be followed in life. If it is pattern making-, al- 
low the boy to major, as we say in the university, in this subject. 
If the textile industry is his selection, let us be sure that the high 
school offers facilities in this field comparable with those of the 
industry. But in addition to the special line of work chosen we 
will give the pupil the advantage of the English, mathematics, his- 
tory, and science which will help him most in his future competition 
with others who are also textile industry workers but who have 
not had the advantage of the liberalizing influences of the school. 

It is possible that we shall be agreed upon the general contents 
of this thesis, but those of you who are scliool administrative 
officers will possibly criticise it on the ground of its being impos- 
sible from the standpoint of administration. For such 1 suggest 
this as a solution: 

The Co-operative Plan 

Permit the high school to cooperate with the manufactories and 
industrial establishments of the community, the school to continue 
to be the adjudicator of the academic work and the factory to supply 
the industrial conditions and adjust itself somewhat to the condi- 
tions of those of school age. 

Both at Fitchburg and Beverly, Mass., the cooperative plan is 
followed but there is this difference in its operation. In Fitchburg, 
the industrial work is done on alternate weeks in factories where a 
shop man acts as the teacher of the class from the high school. 
In Beverly the week about scheme is followed but here an in- 
structor in the high school is the instructor in the shop. He 
works upon shop projects and under shop conditions but he knows 
school conditions as well, and because of his knowledge of the 
limitations of boys he is able, doubtless, to serve them better than 
can the shop man. Then, too, he is a teacher and the shop man 
may not be. Again as he is in the shop one week and in the 
school the next he can effect a cooperation which otherwise is im- 
possible. It may be said, too, that his influence over boys of 
school age is likely to be better than that of the man whose 
speech and actions suggest the social limitations of average shop 
conditions. 



16 — 



The Circuit Plan 

A second solution is this: — 

Organize within the small liig'h school manual trainin<4' and in- 
dustrial work Avhich shall be g-uided by some large centre; a nor- 
mal school, a large liig-h school, or the university. Let the direc- 
tor in this centre co(')i)erate both with the local school board and 
with the industries of the community in determining the kind of 
work to be introduced. Select some individual who will be com- 
petent to teach the course outlined and give him a circuit in which 
lie will have a sufficient number of schools to occupy his time. It 
seems to me that this idan should be much more feasible than tlie 
one which necessitates the manual arts work of the pupil to be 
done in a factory, because it provides for a more general super- 
vision and a control by several interests instead of one; also, be- 
cause the instructor would, in all probability, be selected partially 
because of his knowledge of school conditions, whereas the fac- 
tory instruction is likely to be given by a factory operative or an 
individual who will be unable to see the large problem and coih-- 
dinate the work of the shop with that of the school. 

A Necessity in Either Plan 

However this may be, one feature of either of the tAvo plans sug- 
gested should be emphasized as imperative, viz: Put the special 
work followed by the pupil in his senior year under the supervision 
of the leaders in the industry represented. I do not believe we 
shall ever get industrial conditions to obtain in the school if school 
men are permitted to organize the work of industrial courses, un- 
less they have had the special industrial training needed. On the 
other hand, I maintain that the executive heads in the school sys- 
tem must remain in general control. Germany and England give- 
us our best illustration of what can be done in this direction — by 
demonstrating the sanest kind of co«)peration between the school 
and the industrial leaders. 

General Summary 

Allow me just a closing word in summarizing the four most im- 
portant points which I have endeavored to make in this paper: 

First: Lower grade hand work should be given a prominent 
place in the curriculum but it should represent community activi- 
ties and therefore must have an industrial significance. 



— 17 — 

Second: An intermediate school to provide for those in the sev-- 
enth and eighth grades who now take advantage of their first op- 
portunity^ to leave school — the time when the state ceases to com- 
pel them to attend school, — should be established. 

Third: Organize one or more general high schools in a commu-- 
nity, instead of two or three special high schools. In this school 
during the first three years, compel all pupils to take at least a 
minimum amount of manual work which is both good manual 
training and good industrial work. Also provide for specializa- 
tion along industrial lines in the fourth year. 

Fourth: In case the r/eneral high school organization is not feas- 
ible or possible, pi-ovide for specialization in industrial work by a 
school-factory cooperation or by the circuit instructional method 
wherein supervision wall be obtained from recognized authorities 
representing both the school and industrial interests, and make 
provision for maintenance through an educational extension de- 
partment. 

In no sense have I intentionally made an arraignment against in- 
dustrial education or the Wisconsin Industrial Education Law. 
The schools which will be established under this law will serve a 
great need. They may be necessary also to arouse public school 
teachei-s and show them the opportunities afforded by present 
school machinery to serve similar or even the same ends that these- 
new schools will have. This paper was designed to make an ap- 
peal in this direction. 






■)< 






,isS|4,i 



-3^r 



^<\ 



